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The Family Engagement Fellowship

Apply for the Fellowship
Follow these steps:

The Covenant Foundation’s Family Engagement Fellowship has been created to honor the legacy of Harlene Winnick Appelman, z”l, by giving a single, outstanding Jewish family engagement professional the time, space, and kavod required to nurture and grow bold ideas that enrich the field.

The fellow will receive: financial support ($50,000 + travel budget), support from The Covenant Foundation’s team, access to a broad network of leaders in Jewish education, and a platform for publishing.

The fellow will:
  • Devote a year to testing new approaches for learning and engagement strategies that will benefit Jewish families across the country
  • Connect with leaders in Jewish education, becoming integrated with the Foundation’s extensive network (grantees, Covenant Award recipients, and Pomegranate Prize recipients); and
  • Write pieces about their learnings for Sight Line (The Covenant Foundation’s digital journal) and other publications.

The fellow should expect to spend the equivalent of 20 hours/week on these activities.

Note that the Fellowship is not intended to be woven into the day-to-day of the Fellow’s current job, nor are the initiatives they develop intended to benefit a single institution. Rather, the Fellowship is intended as part of a sabbatical year, a post-doc/MA project, or in combination with part-time employment. The innovative programming the Fellow develops should have potential for significant impact on Jewish communities across the country, well beyond the walls of their home institution.

Educators working in any academic or Jewish education setting in North America are eligible to apply.

Applicants must:
  • Have a Master’s degree or higher
  • Have strong writing skills
  • Have significant, demonstrated experience and expertise in Jewish family engagement as a practice and/or a field of study
  • Present a vision for a 12-month project/study informed by their own work and broadly aligned with the Foundation’s interests
  • Show a commitment to reflecting on learnings to inform the field
  • Approach their efforts with generosity of spirit, and the ability to be innovative, self-directed, and collaborative

Expected term of the Fellowship is August 1, 2023 – July 30, 2024.

Applications, including Letters of Support, are due to The Covenant Foundation by Friday, February 10, 2023, 2:00 pm EST. All documents should be sent as attachmentsto Fellowship@covenantfn.org with the applicant’s full name in the subject line of the email message. All documents should be in .doc or .docx format.

  • Resume – Please send a current version of your resume.
  • Vision Statement
    • Up to 500 words (double spaced, 12-point font) – We are interested in understanding your “big picture” vision for the field of family education/engagement.
      • What are your dreams for the field?
      • What would you like to see happen for families that would enhance what is currently happening in the field?
  • Mission Statement
    • Up to 1000 words (double spaced, 12-point font) – Tell us about your background and experiences that have led you to this point.
      • Why is Jewish family education your focus? When did you first identify your commitment to doing this work?
        • Tell us about your background in Jewish education.
        • Tell us about your connection to any other related disciplines (for example, early childhood) if relevant.
      • Please tell us about of one of your proudest moments related to your work in Jewish education.
      • Tell us about a mentor who has had a powerful influence on you and/or your work.
      • Tell us about an experience that changed the way you approach your work.
      • Please give one example of a collaborative professional experience where you learned something valuable from your project partner(s).
  • Statement of Intent
    • Up to 1000 words (double spaced, 12-point font) – Tell us about your interest in the Fellowship
      • What brings you to apply for the Family Engagement Fellowship? Where are you now in your career that makes this the right moment?
      • Tell us about the project you would like to work on over the 12 months of the Fellowship:
        • Please describe the project and how the idea first came to you.
        • What would “success” look like at the end of the Fellowship?
        • Beyond financial assistance, what types of support from The Covenant Foundation will be most needed for your Fellowship to be successful?
        • What product will you develop by the end of the Fellowship?
        • How will you use what you learn and produce over the course of the year in your work moving forward?
      • What contributions do you anticipate making to the field of family education/engagement?
      • How would you like to partner with other educators/academics to share your vision and learn from their work?
Letters of Support

For your application, please select two people to send Letters of Support. Writers can be people you currently work with and/or people you’ve worked closely with in the past:

  • A supervisor/manager;
  • An academic advisor; and/or
  • A colleague with whom you have collaborated.

Please direct your two writers of Letters of Support to the Letters of Support tab at the top of this page for instructions on how to proceed.

Selection Procedures and Notification

All completed applications will undergo a process of peer review. During the selection process, The Covenant Foundation may request additional information from applicants. The Covenant Foundation will notify the applicant selected for the Fellowship and all other applicants by May 1, 2023.

Please contact The Covenant Foundation with any questions you have regarding the application process.

Phone: 212.245.3500

Fellowship@covenantfn.org

Step 1: Fill out the form and submit.

 

Step 2: Download application here.

Applications, including Letters of Support, are due to The Covenant Foundation by Friday, February 10, 2023, 2:00 pm EST. All documents should be sent as attachments to Fellowship@covenantfn.org with the applicant’s full name in the subject line of the email message. All documents should be in .doc or .docx format.

Step 3: Please direct your two writers of Letters of Support to the Letters of Support tab at the top of this page for instructions on how to proceed.

Each Letter of Support writer is responsible for sending one copy of their letter by email to Fellowship@covenantfn.org by 2:00 pm EST on Friday, February 10, 2023. No exceptions will be made. The subject line should read: “Letter of Support for (first and last name of applicant),” and the document must be in .doc or .docx format.

Please download the Letter of Support template here for more information.

Letter of Support contents:

Part I. Contact information for the Letter of Support writer

Part II. Please provide a written statement in support of the Fellowship applicant.

Your statement should not exceed 700 words using a 12-point font.

Please include the following:

  • Describe how the Family Engagement Fellowship applicant shows exceptional promise meriting this opportunity.
  • The Covenant Foundation places a high priority on applicants who embody certain characteristics, beginning with generosity of spirit. Additionally, we are looking for people who are innovative, self-directed, and collaborative. How does the applicant demonstrate these characteristics?
  • Please respond to one of the two following questions:
  • In what way are the applicant’s activities pioneering in Jewish family education/engagement?

OR

  • In what way is the applicant’s field of research contributing meaningfully to Jewish family education/engagement?

Please contact the Foundation with any questions:

Phone: 212-245-3500

E-mail: Fellowship@covenantfn.org

www.covenantfn.org